Requiem for Bakura
by Omega19x
Summary: Over forty years ago, Ryou decided to make the ultimate sacrifice. It pained the elderly Bakura to think about it, but on nights like these, there was little else that he could do. COMPLETE
1. Thoughts of You, As one day ends

Insert Disclaimer here: I own no part of Yu-Gi-Oh. No part of it at all.

This is my first fanfiction, so getting sued for it would really put a damper on my creativity…

"I never thought I'd grow old… not after thousands of years of immortality…" the once yami Bakura whispered to himself as he leaned against an old cherry blossom tree.

The sun was starting to set on what would have been Ryou's sixtieth birthday, if he were still alive. The old man's hand's fumbled in his long robe. It all started a little over forty years ago, on a starless night much like this one. It pained Bakura to think about it, but on nights like these, there was little else that he could do.

Little else that he wanted to do.


	2. To each his own scheme

Bakura was in his soul room at the time, inside the millennium ring. His latest plot to steal the items had failed, and the Pharaoh had once again thwarted his best efforts. It all seemed so significant back then.

He had closed off his mind link to Ryou, like he always did when he was scheming. He always feared his light's desire to foil his evil plots, and for good reason. Ryou would automatically step in the way the moment he felt that one of his friends' lives were in danger. Sometimes for the better, but often for the worse.

Bakura didn't realize it at the time, but Ryou had been scheming too. He knew of Yugi's plans to set his yami free. Rumor had it that a simple card game would send him on to the afterlife forever. They had traveled to Egypt once already. The next trip would surely be their last. To Ryou, this was troubling.

His yami wasn't the most lovable spirit that he could have been attached to, but he still cared for Bakura. He knew what his spirit had done in his actual life. And he knew the fate that would await his yami in the afterlife.

After all, Ryou himself had been judged once, on that trip to Egypt. He had seen Bakura's soul on the scale, alongside his own. It was far too heavy. Trapped in the ring, sealed with such palpable evil, it was only getting heavier.

So while Bakura plotted, so did Ryou.

On the last trip to Egypt, he learned of a spell that could set his yami free, and give him a mortal body. Then, Ryou thought to himself, Bakura would be able to start a new life. The hardened exterior he wore every day, a product of millennia trapped in the darkness of the shadow realm, would start to fade away. The millennium items would loose their meaning to him. He would become pure again. Or, so Ryou hoped. He didn't know exactly what would happen. But he was still going to try.

It had taken several months, but he finally gathered up the items needed for the spell. And on the first night of the month, when the moon wasn't visible, he set up for the strange ritual.

He collected the ashes from several important dueling cards, the Change of Heart in particular. He gathered traces of hair, skin, and most importantly, or so the scroll said, his own blood. He mixed together tinctures of various herbs, leaves, and seeds. Ryou leaned over to sniff the strange yellow brew. The smell alone made him sick to his stomach.

Carefully, so as not to alarm his yami, he slid the millennium ring over his head. Just as gently, he placed it in the center of the makeshift altar.

"Curse of binding, set us free." He whispered, pouring a generous amount of the odd potion on the ring. "The spirit bound must be released."

He took a deep breath and put the bowl to his own lips.

"The sacrifice is now complete." He closed his eyes and gulped a generous mouthful of the potion. It burned like gasoline down his sensitive throat.


	3. What is Freedom to a Yami?

Bakura stopped dead in his thoughts. Something was happening to the ring. He could feel it. And that same thing was happening to his host.

He didn't even have a moment to mindlink with his light before the dank room around him started to melt. He could feel his hands turning to sand again, the same fire that once consumed him now burning within his chest. Light was breaking through every dark corner, and he found each speck of brightness more disorienting than the last.

"Ryou! Ryou what's going on?" he screamed, but couldn't feel any response.

Bakura started to panic.

He grabbed onto his copy of the millennium item, and started shouting at it. The darkness around him began to glow a fierce red.

"Ryou! Answer me, damn you!" Bakura shrieked, shaking the ring. It suddenly felt very cold. "Ryou! What did you do! What's going on!"

A familiar tile floor suddenly appeared beneath him. He was in Ryou's apartment. And in solid form.

"What was that?" he shouted, still staring at the ring. "Why'd you pull me out into your…"

He looked up. And he saw Ryou's large brown eyes staring back at him.

"…body…" he gasped, and let go of the millennium ring. The pieces jangled against his chest in a dead weight.

Ryou hadn't yet moved. He looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"It worked…" the boy finally managed to talk. He reached for his own copy of the ring, his hand searching desperately while his eyes remained fixed on Bakura. "It worked… Yami… you're free…"


	4. A dream? Or was it a Nightmare?

Across town, Yugi Moto woke up drenched in sweat, gasping for air.

"Yami…" he whispered, as the pharaoh appeared in spirit form beside him. "Did you feel that dream? It felt so real!"

His darker half nodded.

"I did feel it… but it was no dream…"

Yugi's millennium puzzle started to rattle. Something in the real world was seriously amiss.

"One of the seven items has completely lost its power." Yami broke the uneasy silence. "And I know exactly which one it was…"

"How?"

The pharaoh let out a long sigh.

"Something has happened to the spirit of the millennium ring…"

"Bakura!"

"A long time ago, he sealed a tiny sliver of his soul inside a piece of the millennium puzzle. It posed me no great threat, but I knew it was there. I could feel it." Yami recounted. "But suddenly, that sense is gone…"

"You mean?"

"It is as though he no longer exists."

"But if something's happened to Bakura, something must have also happened to Ryou!"

"Grab your coat." Yami ordered his light, and disappeared into Yugi. "We must get to the bottom of this. Immediately."

Yugi nodded, and blinked. In a second, his yami had taken over. And they were on their way to Ryou's apartment.


	5. The cost of Freedom

"Free? What do you mean, I'm free!" Bakura asked again. The boy trembled a little.

Bakura looked towards a mirror, his hands feeling the face he didn't believe was real. He was completely solid, the body looking exactly the way he had grown used to seeing it, almost identical to his light's.

"Answer me!" he turned his attention back to Ryou, who looked slightly more pale than usual.

"You… you're free…" Ryou repeated himself. He slowly held up the ring. "You're alive… It worked… it brought you back to life…"

"Alive?" Bakura shouted. "What worked? What are you talking about!"

"The spell…" Ryou whispered. His voice trembled.

"What spell!"

"I don't know… exactly…" Ryou smiled. "But you're free now… You're no longer trapped inside the…"

He froze. A wave of nausea racked through his body, followed by an unusual spasm of pain. He gulped, trying to force it away.

"the… the ring…" Ryou tried to finish. He blinked a couple of times, his vision oddly blurring. "It's useless now…"

"WHAT!"

Bakura was furious. All his plotting to destroy the pharaoh and gain the power of the items had suddenly been rendered absolutely useless. Five thousand years of scheming had suddenly been all for naught.

"You little…" he curled his now solid hands in fists, and was about to slam one into his hikari's cheek, when he caught a glimpse of Ryou's face.

He was smiling. It was weak, but his light was smiling.

"The darkness… is gone…"

The ring fell from Ryou's hands, as the hikari started to feel less sure of his own footing. His body swayed slightly to the side. He wrapped his arms around himself, and shivered. When he looked up again, Bakura was no longer staring at him with blind rage. He squinted. His yami's face appeared to be one of… could it be… concern?

"Ryou?"

Bakura stood there silently, watching his hikari's pallor blanch. Against his white hair, his skin looked almost green. He only moved when he saw his host's body give out beneath him, and collapse into a dead faint.

"Ryou!"

The boy fell into Bakura's arms. He carefully laid the light in his lap, and pressed his solid hand against the boy's skin. It felt like it was on fire.

Bakura gulped. He was suddenly very afraid.

He wasn't exactly sure why. It wasn't as though his life depended on the life of his host anymore. If what Ryou said was true, and he really was free, then his host's life was completely insignificant. But suddenly, that fact didn't seem to matter.

Bakura shook Ryou gently. The boy didn't move.

"Ryou!" he shouted. "Ryou! Look at me!"

He shook the boy again, and a pair of brown eyes struggled to open. The boy shivered violently in his yami's arms.

"Ryou! What did you do!" he shouted, trying to keep his light awake. Already the boy was dripping with sweat, his breath coming in raspy gasps.

"I… set you… free… yami…" Ryou gasped, trembling. His body spasmed again, to the point that even his pupils shook back and forth.

"Oh Ra…" he gulped again. Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong.

His attention only wavered when he heard someone pounding on the apartment door.

"Bakura! Open up!"

It was Yami Yugi.

Half a dozen conflicting thoughts and emotions floated through his mind in the next few seconds.

He was mortal now, and subject to mortal fears. An attack from the pharaoh could kill them both. In human form, a shadow game would certainly spell his ultimate demise. And the pharaoh would certainly attack the instant that he spotted Ryou on the floor. Bakura still hadn't gotten Ryou to explain what happened. There was no way he could convince the pharaoh that he hadn't done anything to his host. Not after slamming the boy's hand through a spire, or driving a knife into his arm… this wasn't that far a stretch either…

But at the same time, something was seriously wrong with Ryou. And he didn't even know what it was. But if Yugi's yami were there, Yugi would be there as well. As much as he despised the little brat, the kid was intelligent. And he would at least know what to do to help Ryou, right?

He was jolted back to reality when Ryou quivered in his arms, literally gasping for air.

Bakura carefully laid Ryou down on the floor, and dashed to the door. He opened it, revealing the pharaoh.

"Ryou! Something has happened to the spirit of…" the pharaoh began, his words falling apart when he realized who he was talking to.

"Can it, pharaoh."

"You're… still ALIVE…" the spirit of the puzzle gasped. Inside his soul room, Yugi jumped back as well. "What happened to the ring!"

"I don't know!" he shouted back, defensively.

Yugi's yami walked into the apartment, quickly catching sight of the sick hikari.

"What did you do to Ryou?"

Beads of sweat rolled down Bakura's forehead. He wasn't quite sure how to answer his accuser.

"I… I didn't do anything to him…" Bakura finally answered, as the other yami bent down over Ryou's body. The pharaoh didn't even need to touch Ryou to feel the immense heat radiating off his thin body.

"Holy Ra…" Yugi's yami whispered, and starting talking to his own hikari through their mindlink. "Yugi, I need your help."

Bakura watched as Yugi took over the body. For a moment he was thankful that they weren't sending him to the shadow realm. But his thoughts were quickly brought back to Ryou.

"Bakura. Watch him for a sec!" Yugi shouted, and ran off towards the back of the apartment.

Bakura found himself nodding, and rushing to Ryou's side. He propped the boy's head in his lap again, and tried to wipe the sweat from his brow. It clung to the tips of his white hair, drenching them completely.

"Ryou…" he whispered. "Ryou, look at me…"

The hikari tried to obey, but couldn't force his eyes open.

"…Kura…" he finally whispered, in between gasps. "You're… free now…"

"Will you stop saying that!" Bakura barked. "Can't you say anything else!"

"… sorry…" he started to pass out again.

"No! No, Ryou! Keep talking to me…" he quickly ordered. "You can tell me I'm free again. I don't care! Really! I don't! Just keep talking to me!"

He shook the boy, but was getting no response. Bakura's mind was blank, filled with nothing but possible dread for Ryou. He couldn't think of anything else to do…

"Yugi! I can't get him to wake up!" he shouted, still shaking Ryou.

Yugi rushed over. He had been on the phone, calling for an ambulance. He returned with a cool washcloth, and handed it to Bakura.

"He won't wake up!"

Yugi pressed his fingers to the side of Ryou's pale neck. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally located a pulse. Ryou wasn't dead. At least, not yet.

"He's still alive." Yugi tried to calm the panicked Bakura. "Here, put this on his forehead, and try to cool him down…"

"Why won't he wake up!"

Yugi watched the spirit in amazement. When he first saw Yami Bakura standing in the doorway and Ryou on the floor, he agreed with his yami that this was likely the evil spirit's doing. But now, he wasn't so sure. If this was Yami Bakura's doing, then why was he so concerned over Ryou?

"Bakura. Tell us what happened." Yugi tried to get even a piece of information from the spirit.

"I… I don't know!" Bakura replied, tears starting to form in his eyes. He wiped them away quickly. "One minute I was in my soul room… and the next minute, I'm here… in my own body…"

"Your own body?"

"Ryou kept saying that he freed me… and then… he just collapsed! A few seconds before you showed up…" Bakura again wiped tears from his eyes. This time, Yugi noticed.

"I don't think he's lying, yami…" Yugi whispered through his mindlink. "I think he's telling the truth."

"That doesn't matter right now… the most important thing is getting your friend some help." His yami replied back.

"Help is on the way." Yugi said aloud, to both Bakura and his own spirit. "Do you understand me? I've called for help. It's coming…"

The former spirit of the millennium ring nodded as he held Ryou gently.

"Do you know how he freed you?"

"No… he… he just said it was some kind of spell… and now the ring is useless…"

Yugi paused to ask his yami, but even he had no idea what Bakura was talking about.

"A spell?"

Bakura glanced over to where Ryou had been standing when he first materialized. It looked like a makeshift altar. A bowl was on the floor, along with several glass flasks. The ring had once been in the center of the table.

Yugi crawled over to the table, and picked up the bowl. Traces of a strange yellow substance had leaked all over the tile underneath it. He sniffed it, and it made his stomach churn as well. He looked at the ring, which Bakura had described as useless. It was covered in the yellow liquid as well.

"What did Ryou do with this?" Yugi looked up, holding the bowl in front of Bakura.

"I don't know!" he shouted again, angrily this time. Ryou shivered in his arms. "How can he be so cold when he feels so hot!"

Yami materialized again to inspect the strange substance his hikari found.

"Bakura, do you know what this is?"

"No! I have no fucking idea! Will you stop asking me that!" he clutched Ryou even tighter. The washcloth was completely dry by now, just as useless as the millennium item. "If I didn't know what it was when the brat asked me, do you think I know now!"

"I think I've smelt something like it before…" the other yami pondered. "Back in Egypt…"

He took a little of the potion on his finger and sniffed it. His eyes were firm. There was no mistaking it.

"What is it?" Bakura asked impatiently.

"Poison." Yugi's yami answered frankly.

"WHAT!"

"It's a kind of poison." The pharaoh repeated himself, wiping his finger on his jacket. "Something that the high priests would use for sacrifices…"

Bakura didn't know about any of this. The most contact he ever had with the high priests was when he attacked the palace and killed some of them.

"That's impossible… where would he get something like THAT?"

"From our trip to Egypt, perhaps…" the pharaoh sighed.

"No!" Bakura shouted, glaring at the five thousand year old pharaoh. "I don't believe you! I know Ryou… he wouldn't just commit suicide! He's not like that!"

Yugi's yami was taken aback.

"You don't know him at all!" Bakura started to cry, and made no motion to wipe away the tears.

When he looked back up, Yugi had taken back control of the body. The small boy put his arm around Bakura, and tried to comfort him. Bakura wasn't quite sure how to react. He hadn't cried in over five thousand years… the sensation was troubling, and he wasn't sure how to stop it.

"He must have had some reason…" Yugi commented. "Maybe he didn't know what it was!"

Bakura nodded. He knew his hikari wasn't suicidal… but he never said anything about him being the sharpest dagger in the belt…

"But whatever he thought it was… whether he knew it was poison or not… He knew it would give you a body…" Yugi added. "It's obvious that's what he was doing…"

Bakura thought back. His hikari's first words after he materialized… "It worked…"

"Oh, Ra… Ryou…" he couldn't stop crying. He just couldn't stop. He wanted to, but he couldn't stop. "Why Ryou… wake up… please wake up…"


	6. What the Pharaoh knows

The paramedics came. Although he was unfamiliar with the technology, Bakura left the strange men to their jobs. He answered their questions with short discreet answers. They were fabrications, of course, but still answers. They live together. He had just come home with one of his friends, and found him on the floor. That's when they called for help.

The last answer, though, had startled Yugi. When asked his relationship to the boy, Bakura only answered with one word – Partner. And he insisted on coming with Ryou. Yugi wondered if that one was actually a lie.

Within a few minutes, Yugi was left alone at the apartment. As soon as the door had closed, his yami materialized in spirit form. He bent down to examine the makeshift altar.

"Is it really poison, Yami?" Yugi broke the uneasy silence.

The spirit nodded.

"I haven't seen anything like it in a long time, aibou." He added. "And the same goes for the ritual."

"Ritual?"

"I thought it best not to tell the tomb robber, lest he hurt you." The pharaoh replied. "I'm still not sure what power he is capable of…"

"What do you know?" Yugi's voice was suddenly very stern.

"This poison is part of a complex ritual, meant on restoring flesh to a wayward soul…" he sighed, remembering a few times during his previous life that such a ritual was attempted. "But it is quite difficult to perform. And it requires the total sacrifice of another, the one requesting the ritual, in order to be completed."

"What made it so difficult, Yami?"

"The sacrificial victim must perform the ceremony with only pure intentions at heart…" the spirit reminisced. "And they too must be pure. Anything less, and Osiris will reject both souls. They would both be destroyed… The ritual carries such grave risks."

"But with such risks, why would someone…?"

"So that the one about to be judged would have a second chance…" the yami smiled. "So that when they died a second time, the two souls could be reunited in the Kingdom of the West… and they could spend their afterlife together."

"So that the one they… loved… wouldn't be destroyed…" Yugi whispered.

"Yes, aibou." He replied. "Yes…"

"Then Ryou knew that…"

"Yes… Ryou knew that when I am finally able to rest, and the items are destroyed once and for all, that the spirit of the millennium ring would also cease to exist. And he obviously knew the fate that would befall his yami when that time comes."

"His yami is the embodiment of darkness."

"Yes. A dark spirit, born out of a wicked thief and murderer…" his yami sighed. "Should he reach the test of balance, the gods would devour him instantly, and without question."

"You mean that Ryou…"

"Ryou knew exactly what he was doing…" the pharaoh nodded. "But Bakura doesn't…"

Suddenly, Yugi grew very afraid. If this was all true, then Ryou was going to die.

"Yami… what's going to happen to Ryou?"

"If the ritual works, he'll wander the earth in spirit form until Bakura's new body dies. If Bakura's soul is judged worthy, then they will both ascend. If it is not, they will both be destroyed."

Yugi was surprised that his yami could speak about his friends in such frank terms. But he saw the despair in the spirit's violet eyes. There was a sense of deep regret for Ryou, not only in this life, but also in the next. For a soul as tainted as Bakura's… such a ritual would be foolhardy at best. The pharaoh's pangs of guilt were palpable. He couldn't help but feel that Ryou's desperation was born from his fate.

"Don't say that, Yami…" Yugi wiped a few tears from his cheek. "Ryou won't die…You'll see…"

"Yugi, the remedies from this time are strong." His yami replied, embracing the boy as best he could. He faked a smile. "I hope they are strong enough…"

And Yugi cried.


	7. Thoughts of You, 1 AM

The elderly Bakura stared at the rising moon.

In all his previous life, he couldn't remember feeling that concerned, not about anyone other than himself. When he first took control of Ryou's body, it was a means to an end. Nothing more. But over the years, he had started to grow fond for the host. He had taken the fall for him in duels, and protected him when he was in danger. Bakura often told himself that the boy still meant nothing to him, that he was still just a tool in his grandiose schemes to finally get his revenge against the pharaoh.

That false assurance didn't mean much after that night, and it doesn't mean much anymore… That night would forever remain embedded in his thoughts.


	8. What only Ryou can share

For hours he sat by Ryou's bedside, watching the labored rise and fall of his hikari's chest. The doctors had come by several times, and said many things that he didn't understand. All he took away from the conversation was that Ryou didn't have much of a chance, despite their efforts. He made a mental note to let Yugi and the rest of Ryou's friends talk with the doctors.

They connected Ryou to various machines, and those strange noises made Bakura uneasy. Wires and tubes protruded from various locations, in a process that seemed more like mummification than medicine to the former spirit of the millennium ring.

"Ryou…" he finally whispered, rubbing his light's delicate hands. "Why the hell did you do this to give me a body?"

He received no answer from the unconscious boy.

"Why was this so important to you, anyway!" he squeezed Ryou's hand. "Why the hell won't you answer me!"

The rest of the group could hear Bakura's outbursts through the door, although they didn't want to intrude just yet. There was no way to predict the former spirit's actions, and even though he couldn't send them to the shadow realm, he could still hurt them, or worse...

Yugi at least pointed out that the spirit had been using considerable constraint already.

"Why?" Bakura shouted again. "Why?"

Slowly, Ryou managed to open his eyes. They were unfocused at best, but he could still see the faint outline of Bakura against the light.

"…Kura…" he whispered, barely able to speak.

"Don't give me any of that shit…" Bakura stared straight into his eyes. "I want some straight answers! Stop passing out on me!"

Ryou just smiled.

"You're free, Yami…"

"Stop saying that!" he shouted again. "What were you trying to do? What did you hope to gain out of this!"

"I… I just wanted you… to be happy, Yami…" he struggled to speak. "Now you… you can start over… I know… how hard your life was… I know how unfair… You've suffered enough…"

Waves upon waves of ancient memories stung Bakura's heart. Each one of his fellow villagers slaughtered, brutally murdered, their bodies melted to form the millennium items. His soul, imprisoned in the very thing that he despised most. The unending darkness that surrounded him for what seemed like countless millennia. How could the boy really know? Had he sensed it all through the mindlink?

"That's not an answer! What did you do to yourself!" With each of those thoughts lunging at him, he finally lost control, slamming the chair across the room.

"A spell… that I learned when we… when we went to Egypt…" he finally replied. "It… it was the only way to save you…"

"Save me! Save me from what!"

"Death…" Ryou replied, trembling. The strange device above him released a few more droplets of clear liquid.

"I'm already dead. Nothing can kill me, idiot." Bakura finally replied, after what seemed like a painful eternity to Ryou.

"Not that kind of death…"

"What, then…" Bakura dropped to his knees next to the bed. "What are you…"

"They're going to destroy the items, Yami… When the pharaoh passes to the afterlife… on their next trip to Egypt…" Ryou's breaths were as scattered as his words. "You'd go with him…"

Bakura was silenced. Somehow, that thought had never occurred to him. As a spirit, he could still die. If the millennium ring were truly rendered powerless, he would die right along with it. And that would mean…

"I couldn't let that happen…" Ryou coughed, and curled up in a painful spasm. Again, the machines shrieked. The sound was driving Bakura mad.

"So you did what!"

"You're alive now… that's all that matters…" he coughed again. "Now you won't die… You won't be destroyed… And we can be together forever…"

Bakura wasn't sure how to react to that. He stared, mystified into Ryou's dark eyes. They rolled back, and he passed out again.


	9. A fool's wasted prayer

Ryou's other friends filed in when they heard the noise die down. Everyone was there: Tea, Joey, Tristan, even Seto Kaiba. They opened the door slowly, watching Bakura clutch Ryou's hand protectively, lest the boy's spirit be taken away from him.

"How is he?" Yugi asked. "Did the doctors say anything to you?"

"Nothing they probably didn't say to you…" Bakura answered with a grunt.

"Oh Ryou…" Tea whispered. Joey didn't quite know what to say. Kaiba, like always, remained stoic.

"He's not gonna' make it, is he?" Bakura finally spoke again. "I don't understand what the hell those doctors are talking about… but… they don't think he's going to make it… do they…"

Yugi wasn't quite sure how to respond. He looked to his yami, who suggested he take it from there. In another moment, Bakura was looking up at the pharaoh.

"Tomb robber… I know this will be hard for you… but…" Yami Yugi attempted to explain what he knew without sending the former spirit into a fit of rage. "No… Ryou probably isn't going to make it."

He looked back, and saw Tea cry into Tristan's shoulder. Joey stood there silently, wiping his tears with his loose sleeve.

"He did this…"

"I know why he did it, pharaoh…" Bakura sighed. "He told me before he passed out again…"

"What did he tell you?"

"He did this… so I won't die when you do!" Bakura spat angrily at the pharaoh. "So we… he said so we could be together… which means he can't die! Not now!"

The former spirit of the millennium ring slammed his hand on the side of Ryou's bed.

"Not ever!"

"Bakura. The ritual he used… to give you a permanent body…" the other yami began. "It has consequences… Just like in Duel Monsters, sacrifices have to be made for the ritual to succeed."

Bakura froze. He stared at Ryou, and then at each of the other people in the room. His face blanched.

"No… you're not saying that he…"

"Yes, Bakura. He had to sacrifice himself so that you could live."

Behind him, Tea erupted into wild sobs. At the yami's words, everyone cried. Even Seto Kaiba cried, although he tried his best not to show it.

"He…"

"Yes." Yami Yugi nodded solemnly. "For you."

Suddenly it all made sense to Bakura. By death, his hikari was referring to his soul's final destruction by Osiris.

"It's like a second chance, Bakura…"

"I know what it is…" he shouted. "It's a fool's wasted prayer! That's what it is!"

"Bakura…"

"Shove it, Pharaoh! I don't need any of your pity. And I don't want the sacrifice… He'd be better off if he just let me die!"

For a moment, no one dared to speak. Carefully, Yami Yugi opened his mouth.

"He wants you to ascend with him…"

The room turned to ice as the once yami Bakura stood up to face the pharaoh. His heavy steps traced jagged lines on the tile.

"I know my place, pharaoh." Bakura sneered, inches away from Yami Yugi's face. "And I know my fate. Three hundred lifetimes of retributions can't change the past… it can't erase what's been done… and it can't change my future…"

Yugi's yami backed up, bumping directly into Kaiba. Neither took their eyes off Bakura for an instant.

"So if you're saying that he did this to save my wayward soul from being rejected… then you might as well be saying he committed suicide." Bakura continued to advance. "A worthless act… It's far too late for me… he's just too stupid to realize that! And apparently, so are you!"

By this point, Kaiba was flat against the wall.

"Some have the privilege of reaching the New Kingdom." Bakura sneered. "For the rest of us… the rest of us have only the darkness to keep us company…"

He pushed the pair into the wall, and walked back to Ryou's bedside.

"If that's the case, tomb robber… then… Ryou's soul is lost too."

The statement made Bakura look up once more.

"It is part of the sacrifice."

"Get out…"

"Bakura, I'm only trying to help…"

"I said get out of my sight, pharaoh…" Bakura growled. "Now."

Yami Yugi nodded respectfully, and made his way out the door. The other teenagers took another look at Ryou, paid a few silent respects, and followed him. Bakura waited for the door to slam shut before leaning close to his hikari again.

"Why, Ryou… why?" he whispered. "You know my soul as well as you know your own!"

There was no answer from Ryou, only a faint hum from one of the many machines.

"My soul can't be salvaged!"

Again, there was no response.

"What could you possibly see in me, Ryou… that would make you think, for one instant, that this was a good idea! What!" he shouted desperately at the unconscious boy. "And why for me!"

Ryou wearily opened one eye.

"because… I love you… Kura…"

He was out again as quickly as he woke. And that answer left Bakura speechless.

Another hour passed, with no change. One of the nurses came in to inform Bakura that visiting hours were over. But he refused to leave. She insisted, and he still refused to leave. Eventually, she left. Bakura was thankful… he was inches away from slaughtering her right then and there.


	10. The Frailty of a human body

By the time Yugi and the rest of the group had come back the next day, Bakura was still there. He hadn't moved at all. Not eaten, not slept, not taken his weary eyes off his weak hikari for even a second. The doctors said that he was in something called a coma. They were even less hopeful than they were the day before.

Yugi and his friends heard the news as well. They also wondered how Bakura would react to it.

They agreed this time that it would be best to go in one at a time, with Yugi last. Tea went first.

She opened the door slowly, and watched Bakura make no acknowledgment of her presence. Feeling safe, for now, she approached the bed and knelt down next to Ryou.

"Ryou… I know we haven't been the closest of friends… not since we all went to Duelist Kingdom together." She whispered, glancing up at Bakura every now and then. "But you always had a special place in my heart. You have always been my friend. You know that, right?"

She cried a little.

"He's not going to answer you…" Bakura whispered in a hoarse voice. Tea turned around with a shock. "They said he can't… He can hear you… but he can't wake up…"

Tea nodded.

"I'm sorry we made you climb that wall blindfolded… I should have known you wouldn't try to look up my skirt…" she sniffled. "And I'm sorry we didn't trust you more… it was just…"

She decided to stop that sentence right there.

"Why won't he wake up?" Bakura asked weakly, interrupting her anyway.

She looked over at the former spirit of the millennium ring. His normally spiky hair had drooped over his face. His eyes had glossed over, layers of tears hardened around the edges. But his eyes themselves had long been dry. His face was unusually pale, and his body quivered a little.

"Bakura… are you all right?" she asked. Based on his confusion, it was probably the first time someone ever asked the former spirit that. "Do you want me to go get you anything?"

He shook his head.

"What the hell could you possibly offer me?" he scoffed, and returned to stroking Ryou's hand. His voice cracked. "Not unless you can wake him up."

"I'm sorry, Bakura…" she tried in vain to smile. "I can't…"

She slowly got up, and walked to the door. Bakura looked so tired, she thought to herself. Had he really been sitting there all night? Did he ever leave yesterday?

Tristan went in next, while Tea took Yugi aside.

"Yugi, I never thought I'd say this… but I'm a little worried about Bakura."

Yugi looked up inquisitively.

"I don't think he ever left Ryou yesterday…" she sighed. "He looks like he hasn't even slept since Ryou was brought here…"

"I'll let my yami try and talk to him when I go in." Yugi smiled. "But I must admit, I never would have imagined Ryou's yami being so concerned about him. I always figured if he had a body of his own, he'd be gone in an instant, committing some high profile crime, and then escaping into the darkness with his new treasure."

"No, he cares. You can tell." Tea added. "He cares more about Ryou than any of us ever realized."

She paused for a moment.

"It's like he loves him."

"Maybe he does…"

Their conversation ended when Kaiba stepped out of the room. He tapped Yugi on the shoulder, indicating that he could go in next.

Yugi walked inside cautiously.

"Any change, Bakura?" he asked the former spirit directly.

"What do you think…" Bakura mumbled. Tea was right. He was a ragged snapshot of his former self. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. He turned to Ryou.

"Ryou… you and I have shared experiences that no one else in the world can relate to…" Yugi changed the topic quickly. "For that, you are like a brother to me… And I know you're strong. If anyone can pull through this, you can…so you pull through, all right?"

"He can't answer you…" Bakura whispered. Yugi pretended not to hear that.

"You were always there for us when we needed you. I know your life was hard… but you never gave up. Not once… And no one here is going to give up on you now. We're all rooting for you. Even your yami. He's here. He hasn't left your side…"

Bakura was startled at the mention of his presence.

"He cares for you, a lot. He doesn't admit it, but it's clear. He wants to see you better. We all do." Yugi held Ryou's other hand. "And when all this is over, you and I will be out there dueling again… I promise. We'll duel together! I owe you a game of Monster World, anyway… we haven't played that since… well… since that first time…"

Ryou didn't stir. The machines beeped again, startling Bakura. His sudden jump caught Yugi's attention.

"Bakura?"

The former spirit raised his head a little.

"You look tired. Why don't I watch Ryou for a few minutes, while you take a nap?" Yugi suggested with a smile.

"He's my hikari, brat… I'll watch over him…" Bakura answered with a weak grunt. His unfocused eyes made Yugi a little concerned.

"Bakura, have you slept at all since you became human?"

He mumbled something incoherently.

"Have you had anything to eat today?"

Again, he was answered with an incoherent mumble. This time, Yugi really was concerned.

"Bakura. You've got a human body now that you have to take care of! You need to…"

The former spirit stood up abruptly, and charged towards Yugi.

"Listen! I don't need you… or any of your pathetic… friends… to tell me what's best… for…" Bakura stumbled as he tried to walk. He grabbed onto Ryou's bed for a little support. "…what's best for… us…"

And then he collapsed.

Yugi stood startled for a second, and then opened the door.

"Nurse! Nurse!" he shouted. The rest of his friends also came rushing as soon as they heard Yugi call for help. "We need help in here!"

Tea's suspicions were correct. Yami Bakura, exhausted and dehydrated, had finally succumbed to the limits of his human body. The group was more than a little unnerved by the concern they suddenly felt for the same spirit who usually wanted to kill them. Given the circumstances, though… anything was possible.


	11. And light fades into darkness

When the former spirit of the millennium ring opened his eyes again, the faces of Yami Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Joey, and Kaiba were hovering above him.

"What… happened…" he whispered.

"You fainted." Yami Yugi replied softly. "My hikari called for a nurse."

Bakura looked around him. He was in a hospital bed, with a blanked pulled up to his chest. An IV was attached to his left arm.

"What's this for?"

"You were really dehydrated." Tea answered. "They needed to get fluids into your body."

It took Bakura another minute or so for her answer to sink in. Having been a spirit for over five thousand years, such necessities had completely slipped his mind.

"How long have I…"

"Only a few hours." Tristan replied.

Suddenly, a wave of panic struck Bakura.

"Oh, Ra! Ryou!" he jolted upright, ignoring the exhaustion his body still felt. "How's Ryou! Show me Ryou!"

Tea pushed the former spirit back down onto the bed, which took surprisingly less force than she anticipated it would. The rest of the group exchanged glances, eventually settling on Yami Yugi.

"…what…" Bakura's voice was laced with dread.

"Bakura… we're sorry…" Yami Yugi spoke for everyone.

"No." he tried to get up, but Tea and Tristan held him down.

"Ryou passed away while you were unconscious."

Bakura froze. Something inside him snapped, and he leapt forward, lunging at Yami Yugi.

"You liar!" he shrieked, stretching his free hand through Tristan and now Kaiba's grip. "You conniving pharaoh! I'll rip your heart out!"

"I'm sorry, Bakura…" Yami Yugi repeated.

Even the three of them could barely hold Bakura down.

"No! Ryou's fine! You don't know what you're talking about!" Bakura shouted, tears streaming down his cheeks. "He's fine! He's just sleeping! He'll wake up! And then we'll be together! Just like he wanted!"

"I'm sorry…" Yami Yugi repeated again. Bakura continued to scream. In the scuffle, he managed to punch Kaiba in the jaw, and eventually tore his arm free from the IV.

"Let me see him!" he jumped up, again being pushed down by Tea and Tristan. Joey jumped in now, holding the former spirit's legs. "Let me go, you brats! Let me see Ryou!"

"Stop thrashing." Kaiba finally spoke, massaging his sore jaw. "He's still right here."

Bakura stopped fighting. When the other three realized he wasn't trying to attack, they let go of his body. Everyone except Yami Yugi took a cautious step back.

"His body is right here, Bakura." The pharaoh motioned to the bed right next to him. Ryou was completely motionless, and all the machines had been turned off.

The former spirit of the millennium ring pushed what was left of the blanket off of him, and stumbled to Ryou's side. The open wound in his arm bled down onto the white cloth, and onto Ryou's hand. Bakura held Ryou's hand tightly. It was so very cold.

"No… Ryou… you can't be dead! Do you hear me?" he cried. "You're not dead! I order you to wake up! Now!"

Yami Yugi advanced cautiously, and put a hand on the former spirit's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Bakura." He rubbed the other's shoulder gently. "Ryou is dead."

Bakura pushed him away, and reached for his hikari. He hugged Ryou's lifeless body, and cradled it gently, stroking his light's pure white hair.

"No… Don't leave me… Ryou… Come back to me, Ryou…" he sobbed. No one knew exactly how to comfort the now human Bakura. "Oh Ra… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"You can't bring him back." Yami Yugi sighed. "No one can."

Bakura still refused to acknowledge his presence.

"I tried to protect you… I tried… You were right… Yugi was right… I did care… I do care…" he continued to sob. "I do care…"

But caring doesn't bring souls back from the dead.


	12. Thoughts of You, 3 AM

A star shot across the sky, falling behind the cherry blossom tree. The aging Bakura smiled at the trail it left behind it. Something about a falling star's streak always remind him of Ryou's smile. He still couldn't place it, even after all those years… Maybe he was up there… watching everything…

Instinctively, he pulled the millennium ring out from under his red robes and held it tightly. It was nothing more than a useless trinket now. But he still couldn't bear to part with it. Even though it was stained with so many painful memories, it was still the bond the two shared.

He was glad that the pharaoh never asked for it back. Perhaps, without its power, it meant nothing to him. He could journey to Egypt and ascend to the afterlife, all without its destruction. But it meant the world to Bakura.


	13. The Frailty of a human mind

It was the only possession he had after Ryou died, save the clothes he had magically materialized in. And it was pretty much all he took with him as he fled from Domino City.

He had spent a few days in Ryou's apartment after the funeral, but each time he opened his eyes, he was blinded by more and more memories of the boy. Pictures hanging on the wall documented his short life. Ryou always smiled, and that smile kept haunting Bakura's dreams.

Yugi had come by on the first day to keep Bakura company. He also saw to it that the makeshift altar was destroyed, and that all traces of the poison had been disposed of. He didn't know what the former spirit would try to do in his despair.

His yami and Bakura talked for the longest time. To Yugi that seemed more surreal than Ryou's untimely death. Enemies from the ancient past suddenly sitting down over tea and crackers that Yugi had prepared in Ryou's kitchen.

At least the former spirit was eating something.

They talked at length about the millennium items, about their lighter halves, about Yami Yugi's upcoming trip to Egypt. He invited Bakura along, but the former spirit of the millennium ring declined. It still brought back too many painful memories.

Tea and Tristan came over at least once that day. Joey dropped by the next, in order to return a few cards that he and the others had won from Ryou over the years. Kaiba also stopped by for a visit, even if it was a short one. The teens staggered their visits around the clock, none of them comfortable about leaving Bakura alone in that apartment for very long.

Whenever anyone would arrive at the apartment, they found it exactly as the last visitor had left it. The rooms were usually dark. Maybe a candle was still burning in the corner. Most of the time, it had snuffed itself out.

They usually found Bakura laying in the dark against a wall, clutching the cold millennium ring. They tried to comfort him as best as they could, but he was, for the most part, inconsolable. Except for Yami Yugi, he hardly spoke to anyone.

If he was sleeping, they let him be. Tea often prepared food, and left it there for Bakura. She considered her visit a success if she found a half-eaten dinner on the tray the next morning.

The next time Tristan and Yugi arrived, they found Bakura facing a fallen mirror with a razor blade in his hand. In an act of desperation, or was it guilt, he had sliced his face open in a pattern the pharaoh recognized instantly. They were the same scars that the young thief had gained from fighting his way out of a busy market in ancient Egypt. Bakura was crying, his blood mixing with his tears upon the tile floor.

Yami Yugi appeared to question Bakura, to which just he replied, "I'm don't want to look at Ryou's face anymore. I try… but I can't see anything else…"

The pharaoh was stunned as Bakura laid his bleeding head in his lap, and just cried. Yami Yugi held him for hours, stroking the former spirit's hair and consoling him. In the meantime, Tristan was disposing of the razor blade, just in case Bakura would use it for a more sinister purpose.

On the fourth morning after Ryou's funeral, Yugi opened the door to find no one in the apartment. The lights were off, and the dinner Tea had prepared was still sitting in on a tray on the floor. He searched all of the rooms, but Bakura was nowhere to be found.

He quickly called for the others to meet him there.

Tea, Tristan and Joey helped Yugi search the apartment for clues to Bakura's whereabouts, but they couldn't find anything. The only missing items were the millennium ring and a jar of loose change Ryou kept on his bedroom shelf. To Bakura, Joey imagined, with little conception of modern day currency, it probably looked like a lot of money. In reality, the jar probably only had enough money for one meal.

By the end of the day, they had given up hope. Bakura was gone. And he probably wasn't coming back.


	14. Old habits die harder

Bakura wandered the streets of Domino for what felt like days. Having exchanged the jar of useless coins for a bottle of what could, or so a strange old man had said, numb his misery, all he had left was the millennium ring and a bad headache.

He finally stopped to rest in an abandoned alleyway outside of town.

For the first time since he died back in ancient Egypt, he felt completely hopeless. At least, or so he recalled, in the ring, there was always revenge to keep his mind occupied. Now, with even that taken away from him, he could do nothing but wallow in his memories. And do what he needed to do to survive.

For the next few years, Bakura lived off the streets, stealing food from outdoor markets and sleeping in dirty unlit corners. And each day, he was haunted by Ryou's face. The boy had sacrificed everything to give him a second chance, and this was all he could do with it. He was nothing except the King of Thieves. That was his life, both then and now, and that was his fate. He couldn't stand himself.

He never saw any of Ryou's friends during those years, except for one cold winter morning. He was about twenty-four.

The winter had been harsh. The outdoor markets closed when it snowed, and food was hard to find. The last time he had tried to steal from one of those indoor markets, he barely escaped with his life. The metal ball from the strange loud weapon his pursuers carried had grazed right past him. He had watched other street wanderers die from those little metal balls. And he would have died too, if it weren't for the convenient wall he was able to scale.

But that was a week ago, and the scraps he stole had long been eaten. He leaned against a brick wall, trying to keep himself warm. The clothes that had once been Ryou's had been reduced to mere snippets that hung off his painfully thin body. He suffered from a chronic cough on top of that. He was about to simply lay down in the snow and let nature take him, when an open truck caught his eye.

One of the indoor markets was getting a supply of food. A young blonde man was unloading crates from the vehicle, but there were several boxes that remained unguarded. Bakura smiled. If he were quick, he could eat today.

Carefully, he snuck around the alley. But his senses, dulled from lack of food and energy, betrayed him. The instant he laid a hand on a crate of fruit, he felt someone grab his arm.

"Stop right there, ya' lousy thief!" the voice shouted. Bakura tried to pull away, but fell onto the boxes. It was no use. He was too weak to escape. He slowly looked up to see his captor.

"Joey?" he whispered. The man's eyes met his.

"Bakura?"

Joey studied the man he had caught trying to steal part of his shipment. Bakura's once white hair was now grey with dirt. His skin was just as filthy. His dark eyes revealed nothing but pain and suffering.

"Bakura, what happened to you?" he gasped, finally letting go of the thief's arm.

Taking his opportunity, Bakura snatched an apple from the now open crate and greedily devoured it. Joey didn't try to stop him. He just watched the man eat as though he hadn't seen food in days.

"Where have you been?"

Bakura didn't answer him. He wasn't sure if that was because he was too ashamed, or whether he just didn't want to relive the recent past. Either way, Joey didn't press the issue.

"Do you need someplace to stay?" he finally asked. Bakura looked up. He thought for a moment that the thief might actually say something. "Mai won't mind."

He was painfully silent.

"At least a hot bath, a good meal, a change of clothes…" Joey pleaded. "Bakura, you're a mess…"

Bakura considered taking him up on the offer. But eventually just shook his head. If he went with Joey now, there would be a lot of questions to answer. And those answers would just remind him more of Ryou and his useless sacrifice. A thousand lifetimes indeed…

"At least…" Joey finally pleaded. "Wait here… let me buy you some real food. Some meat, some milk… you look so hungry…"

Bakura finally nodded. He waited a few minutes, and Joey came out of the market with some deli meat, a loaf of bread, a package of cheese, and a carton of milk. It wasn't much, but that was all the money he had in his pocket at the time. He took a few more apples from the open crate, and handed those to Bakura as well.

The former spirit of the millennium ring stared at the feast in front of him, his eyes as watery as his open mouth.

"Thank you…" he whispered, in a raspy voice. He took off his light blue jacket, and gathered the food inside of it. The cold wind against his uncovered arms made him shiver, but it was offset by the prospect of food in his stomach.

Before Joey could respond, Bakura had disappeared into the shadows of the alleyway. When he was finished unloading supplies, Joey went looking for him. But, just like before, Bakura was nowhere to be found.


	15. Thoughts of You, 5 AM

Bakura leaned against the tree, his wrinkled bony hands still massaging the millennium ring. He traced the scars on his face. They were still there, a painful reminder of who he once was, and who he almost became all over again.

Those years were hard, Bakura thought to himself, watching the moon trace shadows on the sand. They were harder than what he remembered from ancient Egypt. Dozens of times, he had come close to death. But only a few stood out in his mind now. One such time was the event that brought him here.

"I guess I was lucky that night…" he whispered to himself.

Or maybe Ryou was looking out for me… he continued the sentence only in his thoughts.


	16. Nowhere else to go

Even though they had yet to see him, the rest of Ryou's friends knew he was out there somewhere. Joey didn't wait a day to tell everyone that Bakura was still alive. Nor did he hide any of the horrid details of his encounter with the former spirit of the millennium ring.

No matter how far he wandered, though, Bakura kept coming back to Domino to see what had happened to everyone.

From what he observed, Yugi must have taken over ownership of the game shop after his grandfather passed away. There was no millennium puzzle around his neck. Bakura mused that Yami Yugi must have passed on as well. He felt a pang of regret at that thought. But he knew exactly what happened to the good pharaoh.

He saw Tea through posters at the dance hall. She had done a couple of musicals, and toured on Broadway. Bakura longed to see her perform, but he knew that was impossible. He had seen her with Yugi on occasion. Perhaps the two were dating. Perhaps they were already married. His light used to comment on how those two were made for each other. And Bakura wouldn't be surprised if they eventually did settle down together.

He still saw Joey at the unloading docks of the big indoor market from time to time. One day, he even saw Mai there with him. She was carrying a little girl in her arms. The girl looked a lot like Joey. The expression in his face said it all – they were a family.

Tristan worked in a large office complex in downtown. He saw very little of him, though, and that was all he knew. He had certainly made a life for himself.

He had seen even less of Seto Kaiba, although he caught a glimpse of the Kaiba Corp. limousine passing by every now and then. Each time he saw it, he couldn't help but feel envious.

In fact, he was lost in those envious thoughts when he suddenly heard a strange voice cry out from down the street.

"That's the thief, officers! Over there!" a young woman shouted. "He's getting away!"

Bakura looked down. He was holding several pieces of fruit in his hands. He hardly remembered stealing them, having done it so often and for so long. Without another thought, he took off running away from the vendor.

"Stop! Thief!" he heard one of the policemen shout, but he didn't stop. Instead, he ducked into a nearby alleyway, and started climbing the chain link fence that separated it from an abandoned warehouse.

Almost over the top, he accidentally lost his footing. By the time he had recovered it, the police had also reached the alley. He jumped to the ground just as he heard the roar of that fearsome weapon. His body froze with pain as he felt one of the metal balls tear through his calf. He collapsed on the ground, his stolen breakfast falling from his hands. His leg was bleeding, and the metal ball was still inside. The police were scaling the fence.

"This can't be how it ends…" Bakura whispered to himself as he tried to stand. But it was hopeless. Every time he tried to put weight on the wounded leg, he would fall down again. He scanned the ground, looking for anything that he could use as a weapon.

"We have you now, thief!" one of the policemen shouted as he jumped in front of Bakura. The former spirit picked up a handful of dirt, and flung it into the officer's face. It stunned him, and he repeated the procedure with the other.

It bought him enough time to throw the fruit down the other alleyway. He wrapped his jacket around the open wound, so as not to leave a trail of blood, and climbed up an old fire escape. When the policemen regained their sight, they took off running in the direction he had thrown the produce, hoping to catch up.

Hours passed before Bakura slid back down. His calf stung, and what was left of his jacket was almost soaked with blood.

With nowhere in particular to go, he started limping to the east. Given the pain, he was surprised he could still move. By sunset, though, he had finally collapsed on the outskirts of a strange temple. It was a Buddhist monastery, just outside the city of Domino.

One of the monks, passing by the gates, found him, and carried him inside.


	17. Penance for a Tortured Soul

Bakura awoke to the strange smell of incense burning. He slowly opened his eyes. There was a dark wooden roof over his head, and the sounds of footsteps echoed from what might have been another room.

He tried to sit up, but found himself completely exhausted. He didn't know how he got there, and he didn't know what would happen to him next. From what he could ascertain, his leg had been bandaged tightly, and he was now wearing a long red robe. He saw his old clothes in a pile on the floor nearby. But he could feel the millennium ring still hanging around his neck.

"You are awake." A soothing voice whispered from the other direction. Bakura quickly wrenched his head around. "You have had quite a night. Rest now."

Bakura painfully rose from the mat he had been sleeping on. He leaned forward, catching his breath.

"Where am I?"

"Among good people." The man answered. Bakura finally caught sight of him. He was dressed from head to toe in an orange robe. His head was shaven. He was clearly part of a monastic order.

"Why am I here?" Bakura managed to bark. He rubbed his hand over his sore leg. It felt as though someone had removed the metal ball during the night.

"So full of questions, aren't we…" the monk replied. "I do not know why you are here. But you are here now. And that is all that matters, isn't it?"

"Do you even know who I am?" he finally asked, glaring wickedly up at the monk.

"No." the strange monk answered. "Should I?"

"I'm the King of Thieves." Bakura growled. He was surprised at his own answer. He hadn't used that title for a long time. He took a long breath, and finally continued. "I am the darkness… I don't belong here…"

The monk knelt down next to Bakura. He brushed the man's white hair out of his face, and turned his chin towards him.

"So, your majesty, if you do not belong here, then where do you belong?"

Bakura didn't have a ready answer.

"When you feel rested, and after you have eaten, you can show me…" the monk replied, standing back up. He gestured towards several large jars of colored sand. "My master always said that sand provided the best window into one's soul."

"You don't want to look at my soul, trust me." Bakura scoffed. Only one person cared about his soul before, and he was long dead. "There's nothing there but…"

"Darkness?" the monk interrupted.

Bakura was dumbfounded. That was exactly what he was going to say.

"Again, show me."

The monk led the weary Bakura to a large garden, filled entirely with sand. Two monks with small rakes passed through it in straight even lines. They had been at the task since sunrise, and they still had half of the field to go.

"When they are finished, take sand from those jars. I want to see inside your soul." The monk smiled. "Show me who it is that you truly are, King of Thieves."

Bakura watched the monk walk through another doorway, leaving him alone. He was too exhausted to think, yet alone spread sand around some frivolous giant garden. So he sat back down on the pallet and went to sleep.

The next day, he approached the doorway to the garden. Again, the same two monks were raking it.

"Didn't you just do that?" he barked.

They didn't acknowledge his presence.

"Go. They will not disturb you." The familiar voice echoed from behind. Bakura jumped. He didn't know how long the monk was standing silently behind him. "Let your heart guide you."

Bakura groaned, but snatched the jar of sand anyway while limping out the door. It was black. He sat down in the middle of the garden, and picked up a handful of the black grains. Carefully, he started spreading it out in lines.

Before he had realized what he was doing, Bakura had drawn a sketchy picture of Ryou. A tear formed in his eye.

The monk walked over to where Bakura was sitting.

"So this is your soul." He smiled. "It doesn't look like darkness…"

He took a small rake, and combed over the picture. In an instant, it was gone.

"Hey!" Bakura jumped up. "What'd you do that for? You know how long I sat drawing that?"

"It doesn't matter." The monk answered, still as peaceful as before. "Draw it again."

Bakura looked at the monk, puzzled.

"Draw it again, your majesty." The monk smiled, and handed Bakura another jar of sand. This one was blue, the color of most of the clothing he was found in.

Not having anything else to occupy his mind, and nowhere else to go, not to mention the promise of food every day, he sat down again. He worked through the day and late into the night. He finished his drawing when the sun was rising the next morning.

It was Ryou again, wearing his school uniform. He was smiling innocently. A dark menacing shadow stood behind him, with a hand on his shoulder.

"I see…" the monk smiled again, and once again raked over the entire drawing. Bakura growled in frustration, but the monk pretended not to notice.

Instead, he handed Bakura a jar of white sand.

"Draw it again."

This process continued for days. Those days stretched into weeks, and those weeks into months. By the time a year had past, Bakura's drawings were made of hundreds of colors, and stretched over a large fraction of the entire garden. They were so large, that the monk could no longer tell what they were without climbing the cherry blossom tree in the middle of the garden.

Again, just as before, he had drawn Ryou. This time, the boy was holding the millennium ring tightly at his chest.

"I see…" the monk smiled. He climbed down from the tree and started to walk inside.

"Hey! Wait!" Bakura shouted, confused. "Aren't you going to rake over my picture, and tell me to draw it again!"

"No." the monk turned back around, but only for a moment. "It is time you did that for yourself."

Bakura looked around at the picture. It had taken him over a week to create, handful of sand by handful of sand. He looked at the rake, leaning up against the monastery house, and grumbled to himself. He walked over to it, took it into his hands, and started down the garden. He finished by the time the sun was setting.

"Now… you are ready to draw it again." The monk smiled. Bakura only looked up and sighed. He missed Ryou, and each picture only reminded him of the boy's sacrifice more and more.


	18. Thoughts of You, And a new day begins

Thirty years have passed since then… Bakura thought to himself, and laughed. For the longest time, he reminded himself that the only reason he stayed at the monastery involved protection from the authorities, a roof over his head, and a good meal. It was an empty promise, though, much like considering Ryou a means to an end.

The truth was, Bakura eventually came to accept, that he enjoyed it there. For the first time in five thousand years, his soul didn't feel so heavy.

He leaned against the cherry blossom tree.

The monk could no longer climb it. In fact, it had been ten years since anyone had done so. But that didn't matter any more. Viewing the picture in the sand had become far less important over the years. Bakura knew what each and every one was. He could see it in his heart, before and after it was made.

And it was always Ryou. In one form or another, it was always Ryou.

He smiled. The sun was starting to rise in the east, its rays spreading over the sand garden. As the light inched its way towards his feet, the vast colors of sand were illuminated. Swirls of red, pink, and yellow marked the Egyptian sun in the northwest corner of the garden. Soon, long white and blue figures danced in the sand. Pyramids jutted out from behind the dancers, each brick outlined evenly in black.

As Bakura felt the sun on his face, he smiled.

That picture had taken the longest to complete. His body, no longer the pillar of youth, could only draw small sections at a time. A total of two months he had worked on this one, thinking of Ryou with each grain of sand he dropped onto the field. Hoping with each loving touch that he would someday see him again.

Slowly, and painfully, Bakura stood up. His bones creaked with age and abuse, and the millennium ring jangled at his chest. He slowly walked over to the side of the monastery, where he kept the rake.

He smiled as he took it in his hands, and set off towards the start of the garden.

The opening of the large wooden door distracted him. A visitor? He turned around.

Standing in the doorway were all of Ryou's old friends. Bakura froze. The rake fell from his hands, and crashed into the sand, scattering part of an oasis.

"Yu…" he tried to speak, but found the words stuck in his throat.

They were all there.

Yugi Moto stood in the middle. He was still as short as he was before, and perhaps a little shorter. His hair was still spiked, but streaked in grey instead of blonde. He still looked innocent, even after all those years.

Tea stood next to him, her hair tucked neatly into a bun. Yugi had plumped with age, but Tea was still as beautiful as he remembered her. Bakrua supposed that a career of dancing would do that to someone. Her smile was still infectious.

Joey leaned on a cane. He appeared to have injured his left leg. As Bakura stared at it closer, he noticed it was artificial. Surely there was a good story behind that, or at least an amusing one. With Joey, you never knew for sure.

Mai stood next to him. She had lost some of her looks with age, but her charm and spirit still showed through. Several new faces stood next to her. Bakura supposed they were Joey's children and grandchildren. He had such a large family. Perfect for his generous heart.

Tristan looked the most familiar. He had hardly changed a bit, except for his age. His expressions were still the same, and his cocky smile still made Bakura laugh. No wonder his hikari was fond of him.

Kaiba was sitting on the end in a wheelchair, with a quilt draped over his knees. Tristan had brought him in. He hardly resembled the gruff young CEO that Bakura remembered. Instead, he seemed to have softened with age. His eyes actually showed traces of laugh lines.

Surprisingly, as he looked at his visitors, not a single hint of regret appeared across his face. There was only a soft smile.

"Mokuba was taking his son for a flight in the new Kaiba Copter," Yugi smiled. "He saw the drawing of you and Ryou…"

Bakura just stood there. The others nodded their assent.

"That's how we found you." Joey smiled. The group asked a variety of questions, all at the same time. How was he? What happened? How did he end up here, of all places?

Bakura smiled. It was too long of a story. And it was one he'd rather not tell.

"It was a beautiful picture, Bakura… Ryou would have liked it." Yugi finally spoke.

Slowly, Bakura limped over to his friends. All traces of anger and sadness had been raked away. Now, he just smiled. And suddenly, one lifetime didn't seem so useless after all. Maybe Ryou was right all along…

"Oh, Yugi… he does like it…" Bakura replied calmly. He glanced up at the sky, which seemed to smile back. "I know he does…"


End file.
